1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an autonomous traveling vehicle, and more particularly to an autonomous traveling vehicle which autonomously travels within a traffic lane by utilizing positional information from magnetic information sources which are mounted on a road.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such an autonomous traveling vehicle has already been proposed by the assignee of the present application (refer to Japanese Patent Application No. 7-283973). With the prior art vehicle, the position and speed of the vehicle after a predetermined time period as estimated on the basis of the detection of magnetic nails, are compared with a control plan concerning the position and speed of the vehicle as set on the basis of information received from a leakage coaxial cable, whereby the vehicle is driven in accordance with the control plan by controlling a throttle and a brake so as to diminish the deviations of the comparison. The controlled amounts of the throttle and the brake which are determined on the basis of the magnitudes of the deviations, are set assuming that the road is flat. Therefore, when the road is sloping, it becomes difficult to drive the vehicle in accordance with the control plan. By way of example, in the case where the vehicle falls behind the control plan, the throttle is opened to increase the vehicle speed. Since, however, the quantity of opening of the throttle on that occasion is set assuming a flat road, the vehicle speed does not increase as expected, on a road of an ascending slope, so that the deviations cannot be diminished.